Pastoral Notes for Sunday, January 19, 2020

For the Pastoral Notes today, I asked Rev. Ben Griffith to tell us about the new Sunday School class he’ll be starting in the chapel in a couple of weeks!

Beginning on January 26th, I hope you’ll join me in the Chapel Class for a five-week journey through a topic that one writer says “may be the most important aspect of the Christian life you’ve never heard about.” Now, he may be overreaching in saying that you have “never heard about” this subject before, but he is putting his finger on the fact that this topic is just as important for us as it is neglected by us. He’s referring to something we find all over the pages of Scripture, a reality that is the very heart of the good news of the Gospel. He’s referring to “Union with Christ.”

                                                         In our five-week series, we’re going to use Rankin Wilbourne’s engaging and accessible book, Union with Christ, to explore how this beautiful gospel reality can close the gap that often exists between our heads and our hearts; between what we believe and what we experience. Often, if we’re honest with ourselves, we find it difficult to connect what Jesus did in the past and what he’s promised to do in the future, to the life that I’m living in the present. Sometimes we feel this disconnect acutely, as we live in this gap between the grand promises of God and the nitty-gritty details of our everyday lives. Does this gap sound familiar to you?

            If it does, then I hope we will discover together, in new and fresh ways, how union with Christ is what Wilbourne calls “the way to know and enjoy God.” Coming to see your union with Christ is like putting on a pair of glasses that finally allows you to see yourself, your story, and your savior with the clarity that God intends. Union with Christ is not a new spin on the Gospel—it’s what the Bible has been saying all along. And it’s not an abstract idea—it’s a powerful reality that actually changes us and opens up new pathways of joy, obedience, and faithfulness in our walks with Christ.

      Please join us! There is no need to buy or read the book, but there are copies on the book table available for purchase.

We are also very pleased to introduce to you our new female youth intern, Eva Lewis! Eva is a member of Cornerstone and has been actively volunteering in our youth ministry for the last year. In this new role, Eva will play a supportive role in the youth ministry, spending quality time discipling our junior and senior high girls. If you have not met Eva yet, please take time to introduce yourself and welcome her to the Cornerstone staff! 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, January 12, 2020

I had several encouraging phone calls and meetings this week with folks. The encouragement wasn’t so much my particular enjoyment of their company and fellowship, though that’s a given. It was in the spiritual joy of the encounters.

Two of the meetings centered on what it means to seek God for direction in life. In both cases, the persons were on the cusp of significant life decisions that would have a bearing on the direction of their life. In both instances, they sought counsel from godly advisors. In both cases, they explored various scenarios and outcomes. In both cases, they sought the Lord earnestly in the Word and praying frequently and perseveringly. And in both cases the Lord kindly supplied them with the wisdom and resolve they needed to make the decision.

In other words, these meetings were not a cry for help but an offer of thanksgiving. They wanted, of course, to inform me of their decision, which I appreciated. But, more importantly, they wanted to share with me what God had done and to invite me to rejoice with them.

It’s no wonder they were so full of peace! Not the kind of peace that comes from being sure that you made the right decision. Since the decisions were matters of liberty not morality, that kind of peace wasn’t possible. For no matter how sure we are, we never know how something is going to turn out. We are, after all, not in control of the outcome. And that was the point for these dear folks. Their peace wasn’t in the decision, but in God. Their peace came from knowing that God was Lord over the decision, was with them in the decision, and that He can be trusted with their future no matter what (Phil. 4:6-7).

Now, that’s a truth to hang on to as we start 2020. Who knows what this year holds for you? What joys will you know? What sorrows will you face? God knows. In fact, He’s already written the story of this year (Isaiah 46:10), and if you know and love Him, rest assured—He’s working all of it together for good (Romans 8:28).

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, January 5, 2020

I saw somewhere online that the head football coach of the LSU Tigers, Ed Orgeron, was asked if he made any resolutions for the New Year. With his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, he responded, “Probably try to eat less, and it won’t happen.”

Coach O’s answer summarizes how a lot of people feel about resolutions. We know that we need to change this or that about us, but truth be told—we don’t have enough desire/drive to do what it takes to make the change. Very simply, our heart is not in it.

That raises a question. What does it take to get one’s heart motivated for change? For starters, fear is a good motivator. How many of us don’t start exercising or eating better until we have a major medical issue? The fear of death or of a painfully reduced life motivates us to make changes, to live differently.  

The same is often true with our spiritual disciplines and practices. I asked someone this week, “When did you become a consistent reader of the Scripture?” He answered, “In my mid-30’s I lost my job and almost lost my marriage in the same year. The pain and fear of that season sent me looking for answers in the Bible.” Interestingly, he’s been in the habit of reading through the Bible annually ever since. 

Though fear and pain are motivators that often shape new directions and habits, there is a better way. Before you’re lying on a gurney or bankrupt or headed to divorce court, ask yourself this question, “What’s your vision for life?” I’m not asking you to craft a vision statement for your life, though that’s a good idea. I’m asking you to dream a bit about the future. Where would you like to be a year from now? Five or ten years from now? Begin to imagine how much better life would be if you reached certain goals or formed certain habits. How can the decisions you make today move you toward that end?

Now, before we go too far, let me ask you a game-changer question. What if the focus of the questions above wasn’t you? What if we asked the questions to God instead? How might He answer them. What’s God’s vision for life? Where would God like you to be a year from now? What decisions and habits would God want you to form this year? How can you grow toward the person God’s called you to be? 

I’d like to suggest that these are the most important questions any of us can ask as we enter 2020. This year like every year is not about you but about God, which is why we’re opening the new year with a three-week sermon series designed to explore God’s call on our lives. Please join me in praying that over the next three weeks our hearts would be captured by God and His mission, and that all His perfect purposes would be fulfilled in and through us this year!

For Freedom Set Free

·      January 5, “My Chains Fell Off: When the Truth Sets You Free” (John 8:31-36)

·      January 12, “Slaves To God: When Obedience Is Your Happy Choice” (Romans 6:15-24)

·      January 19, “Freely Bound: When Serving One Another Is Your Heart’s Desire” (Galatians 5:1, 13-14

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, December 29, 2019

Tony Giles is taking over the Pastoral Notes this week to introduce our new prayer initiative.

Learning to Pray Again

The door is open and the table is set. 

The Father grants us access to the throne of grace where we find help in time of need. (Heb.10:16). The Son in heaven always lives to make intercession for us. (Heb. 7:24-25). The Spirit within us brings his holy nature with him creating in us holy hungers, holy loves and intercedes for us (Rom. 8:26-27) The Trinity continues to be at work at this matter of prayer.

So how can something so important to the Father, the Son and the Spirit – so available and vital to our spiritual lives – be so elusive and difficult for so many? Our prayer lives seem to always to be “under construction.” When it comes to prayer, we are most needy.

·           Can we learn to come to our Father messy, weary and as a child?

·           Can we learn to pray prayers that are close to the heart of God?

·           How are we to ‘take hold of God’ in prayer?

·           What do we learn about prayer from Jesus’ teaching and example?  from the Psalms? from saints who have gone before us?

To that end, we are taking the first weekly prayer meeting each month to learn how to pray again. Would you join us for a recurring Prayer Summit to learn to “strive together in prayers to God” (Rom. 15:6) and to step into this means of grace at the Father’s beckoning call and gracious invitation?

We plan to meet for that singular purpose the first Tuesday of each month from 6:00-7:15 p.m. starting January 7. Each monthly gathering will include a different brief teaching on prayer followed by a “Prayer Lab” of sorts practicing the lessons learned.

Come every month or as often as you can. The door will be open and chairs arranged. Let us take hold in prayer of the One who has taken hold of us. Because the gospel is true, we have a Father in heaven who genuinely delights in the prayers of his people.

And as we learn to pray again – we rehearse the lavish love for the Father for us.

As Paul Miller writes, ‘Prayer mirrors the gospel. In the gospel, the Father takes us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of salvation. In prayer, the Father receives us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of help. We look at the inadequacy of our praying and give up, thinking something is wrong with us. God looks at the adequacy of his Son and delights in our sloppy, meandering prayers.

 

May our hearts be changed as we cry out to him from our poverty of spirit to His listening ears and tender mercies.